Howell Mtn Challenge Race Reports

My lower body has been a train wreck the last few days, I didn't listen deciding to race anyway and today I paid the price. My calves/left hammie tightened up something good DURING MY STINKIN' WARMUP from a hip issue that I've had from a nasty fight with physics and gravity that I lost a few weeks ago, and even with the stick, rolling them on a tennis ball, stretching and massage the gods of all things Knobby said "NO SOUP FOR YOU TODAY" so I didn't even take the start line.

I tried everything I know of to get loose (sprints, fast hill climbs, high cadence work, etc), and nothing worked.

My first race up there. I switched from sport to clyde at the last moment, only because I never saw the clyde option before. Finished fifth out of eight.
That course is brutal and unrelenting. Lots of steep climbs, lots of tight and twisties. It just never lets up.
Real nice to have a shower afterwards.

Great Time

This was my first race, other than a few laps at a 24 hour race, in almost 20 years. I always loved the competition and camaraderie that went with racing, but I used to race at a pretty high level on mostly the track and also road (Cat 2). I had no interest in doing the same thing with diminished skills and a bunch of old guys considering I was used to riding with the Pro race, not to mention that I haven't ridden my road bike in a few years.

My primary goal was just to push myself, so I could get faster on single track and riding with large groups, which I don't really like to do. I feel like I accomplished what I set out to do for the most part. Flew through most of the course faster than I normally would, because there is no way I want anyone to beat me. Lost it in a loose turn about halfway through, so that hurt my confidence a little bit.

Ended up 5th out of about 9 people in the 40-44 age group. Think I have the bug now. I would at least like to maybe ride one more as a beginner, hopefully place, then try riding sport once. I bet I'll get faster too.

Saw Becky there, but didn't recognize anyone else from MTBR. Thanks Becky for the support, especially when you called me a sandbagger

Downieville was my first long race in Expert. I've done some local series in Expert, but those were limited to about 1 1/2 hours at the most. I was really curious how this would shake out.
Got the bike ready the day before, got up at 4:45 am for the 3 hour drive from Nevada City to Angwin. Had plenty of time to warm up and drop off some bottles for the 2nd and 3rd laps. About half way into my warm up my rear shifting started acting up. I've been having problems with my rear shifting sticking very badly, I have new XTR rear der, put on new housing and the cable is relatively new. I've also had trouble with my SunRace rear cassette coming loose and the chain jumps around when this happens. My drivetrain is a mess!
Tightened the cassette and went to the start line.
Started at the very front of my group. When we hit the first bit of singletrack there were only two people behind me. I started flailing early on. I started passing people right after that and kept passing. First lap I kept slipping and sliding around the tight corners and kept my HR around 183 on the climbs. Traded pulls with a few people on the first lap but didn't catch anyone else.
Second lap I dropped dumped a water bottle and decided to race with just one bottle and rely on the water feeds for the rest of my hydration.
The second lap started out pretty good. I was feeling tired but pretty strong around the reservoir and hammered into the singletrack. I was having some serious shifting problems now and only had about four gears in the back, not always the same four, just a random four. I mostly relied on my front three.
After the first water zone a single speeder caught me and suggested we should catch the guy in front of us. So, I hammered down the fire road descent, the one with the water breaks and gaps. Fast, so fast. Didn't exactly realize I could descend that fast that comfortably. That was fun! Caught the guy we were trying to at the start of the last climb before the giant whoop-de-doos.
Third lap I dumped my empty water bottle and grabbed a new one. I was very tired now, my shifting was getting even worse (I was now having trouble with my front shifter now too, so much stiction my thumbs were hurting from shifting), my shock was getting a lot of stiction and my (five year old Crossmax) slick ceramic rims were locking up in an unpredictable manner. Awesome! So, I just trudged along, keeping my HR between 165 and 177. I downed Gu packets and keep my head together. I had some *almost* cramping in my legs. They would hesitate a bit when I pushed them but never actually went into cramping. A good thing.
After the second feed station I went as hard as I could and passed a few people on the last climb, the whoop-de-doos and the road leading to the finish.
According to the prelim results I got 4th, out of how many, I don't know. They only showed four deep. I was 3:08 off of third place. Not bad for my second real Expert race.
I am thrashed. I feel worse than I did after Downieville.
My time on my Polar HR was 2:46:16, average HR of 174, Max HR of 238 (the Polar has a tendency to get this REALLY wrong).
First Lap – 54:52, Av HR – 175, Max HR – 238 (wrong!)
Second Lap – 50:49 (no HR data???)
Third Lap – 1:00:33, Av HR 181, Max HR 220 (wrong!)

What a race, while it lasted...

Start group #6 was fairly large and I started somewhat in the back, but passed quite a few riders on the road already to latch on to rj2's wheel on the single track. His Integrate Fitness Center shirt provided good motivation! That turned out to be a good decision, as rj2 (who was in a younger age group), another sport 50-54 rider (Dan Nelson?) and I went back on forth the whole first lap. I would gain on and even pass them on the climbs. Walking your bike up the fireroad is for beginners; sport riders just crank it out, except for those whoop-ti-do's - I need to let go of the brakes, like Jason and Menso show so well in the video and just let momentum carry me back up. Anyway, as usual, I still go too slow through loose corners on the fireroads and down through the trees, where they would take the lead again. I even crashed in the rutted, dusty downhill section (and lost my water bottle) and fell once trying to pass a rider in a too narrow spot. Rolled around in the poison oak a bit, but hopefully washed it off with Technu in the showers (aren't they great?) at Pacific College. I was still right on their tail, when, just past the dry creek crossing, disaster struck: pinch flat, rear tire. I never had a flat before in a race, but Menso said I'm getting faster now and have to make sure I unweigh the rear more at high speed. Don't sit down and cruise, but stand up and hop over the rocks. Right!? The repair didn't go smooth: my hand pump broke, someone stopped with a CO2 cartridge, but we found out that I had pinched my spare when putting the tire on. I started walking, when someone else stopped and handed me his spare tube and loaned me his pump. (Thanks!) This time I was more careful: properly inflated the tube some before putting the tire on and was able to slowly cruise back to the finish line in last place.
If I had been able to keep up with rj2 I would have been third in the sport 50-54 class.
Oh well, lesson learned. Let's hope that new shoes and a tilt adjustment will fix Menso's knee problems. Congrats to Nate Byron (1st Jr Expert) and John Bennett (2nd pro) for some great races!
- J.L.

You did GREAT for your first race back! The sandbagger comment was all in good fun, only cuz I've seen you crush people like grapes whenever you climb Diablo...I had a wonderful time cheering on all my friends, what a great course & wonderful time. Now I wish I would've raced it!

Fun Race!

I had a tough time but it was still fun. My rear brake decided to stop working about 1/4 of the way through the first lapv blown master cylinder). If you have never raced with just a front brake, you should try it, it's quite thrilling. I ended up 5th in 45+ Sport. I thought I was in third but I missed a couple of guys in my class who got by me. It was great to see everyone. Too bad the season is starting to wind down. Did someone say cyclcross?

According to the prelim results I got 4th, out of how many, I don't know. They only showed four deep. I was 3:08 off of third place. Not bad for my second real Expert race.
I am thrashed. I feel worse than I did after Downieville.
My time on my Polar HR was 2:46:16, average HR of 174, Max HR of 238 (the Polar has a tendency to get this REALLY wrong).
First Lap – 54:52, Av HR – 175, Max HR – 238 (wrong!)
Second Lap – 50:49 (no HR data???)
Third Lap – 1:00:33, Av HR 181, Max HR 220 (wrong!)

Nice job Highland. I've done that race as an Expert twice and both times I was thrashed also!

Some days it's a victory just to finish...

someone stopped with a CO2 cartridge, but we found out that I had pinched my spare when putting the tire on.

Ha!, that was me. I realized after I rode off that I should have given you my tube.

I started badly and got worse. I have some sort of lung thing going on: I rode on Thursday and felt like crap. Yesterday, I felt no better anytime I went over about 80%. I had some setup issues to work out (like way too much air in my front tire), but once I got that together and resigned myself to the fact that I sucked rocks on the day, I had fun riding. I stopped and tried to help JL (not that I knew who he was), I talked with a guy in an MTBR jersey (something_4242, I think?). I crashed once on the first lap, and bruised my ribs pretty badly, I think, so by the end of the race I had trouble really reefing on the bars. According to the page I saw on site, I ended up with my first DFL ever. I did finish, though, so there's that.

Ha!, that was me. I realized after I rode off that I should have given you my tube.

I started badly and got worse. I have some sort of lung thing going on: I rode on Thursday and felt like crap. Yesterday, I felt no better anytime I went over about 80%. I had some setup issues to work out (like way too much air in my front tire), but once I got that together and resigned myself to the fact that I sucked rocks on the day, I had fun riding. I stopped and tried to help JL (not that I knew who he was), I talked with a guy in an MTBR jersey (something_4242, I think?). I crashed once on the first lap, and bruised my ribs pretty badly, I think, so by the end of the race I had trouble really reefing on the bars. According to the page I saw on site, I ended up with my first DFL ever. I did finish, though, so there's that.

that was me. this was my first time racing howell mountain. I had a great time and i slept very well last night. I crashed once and bike worked well other than a few annoying squeaks. i placed 7th in the cydlesdale, next year i will have an idea of where to go a little harder.

I almost went OTB into JL as we were going down the dusty rutted singletrack just before it exits on to the fire road. Full on nose wheelie, trying to push my weight back and hoping he would speed up.

After the race, Tick's going around asking Tim Sawyer, Russ Carmick, Dave Watt, Robert Estrella and other CCCX riders to upgrade next year. From a purely vanity perspective, Expert sounds great, but my wife's not prepared for the additional training load. Tick wants to upgrade because AARP members only do 1 lap at Sea Otter. He's thinking he'll miss the annual Sport clusterfcuk. I, on the other hand, not being as chronologically challenged, would do two. That's 38 miles. I might test the waters at CCCX, as it doesn't require a license change, but I don't know about full on upgrade to the Show.

We take care of your technology needs so you can focus on what's important.

I almost went OTB into JL as we were going down the dusty rutted singletrack just before it exits on to the fire road. Full on nose wheelie, trying to push my weight back and hoping he would speed up.

After the race, Tick's going around asking Tim Sawyer, Russ Carmick, Dave Watt, Robert Estrella and other CCCX riders to upgrade next year. From a purely vanity perspective, Expert sounds great, but my wife's not prepared for the additional training load. Tick wants to upgrade because AARP members only do 1 lap at Sea Otter. He's thinking he'll miss the annual Sport clusterfcuk. I, on the other hand, not being as chronologically challenged, would do two. That's 38 miles. I might test the waters at CCCX, as it doesn't require a license change, but I don't know about full on upgrade to the Show.

I was about 3 min slower this year. I'm chalking it up the heat and dust. I did the exact same thing at the steep left turn right before the fire road. I'm sure it was only a few feet but it felt like I nose wheelied for 20 feet or more. I was glad not to over the embankment into the road. That could have been lethal.

Good race for me, 2nd place, my first podum ever.
Speaking of which, did anyone get a shot of the Men's Sport 19-24 Podium? If anyone got a picture and could forward it to me, I would greatly appreciate it.